


Eva

by comealongpond



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Female Tony Stark, Genderswap, Pregnancy, always-a-girl!Tony
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-06
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2017-11-20 10:22:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/584334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comealongpond/pseuds/comealongpond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Always-a-Girl!Tony is given an ultimatum by her board. Marry and reproduce or your company suffers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> To new readers - I hope you enjoy this! I don't update regularly, but I'm really proud of this fic and I hope you like it. 
> 
> To those who've been around for a while, I've been working on updating this work for a few months, so all chapters have been deleted and along with editing large parts of the content, I've merged the first four into this one. The following five, along with some new content, will be up soon. 
> 
> Thanks to those who've been bugging me to update, as it's been keeping me going and I hope you enjoy!

Tony looked down at the small baby in her arms, as she sucked happily from a bottle. A few hours old, Eva Rogers had a small mop of dark blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, both of which she was sure would soon disappear and fade darker like her own.

 

Currently, Steve was napping in a chair at the end of her bed, exhausted and still in his uniform, because little Eva hadn’t chosen the best of times to arrive. “Stubborn and difficult,” Steve had said with a smile “Just like her mother”.

 

***

 

Tony hated board meetings, mainly because they often involved her getting a good telling off, although after Iron Man they hadn’t been too bad. She still walked in apprehensively, especially as it seemed that she’d been distinctly summoned. While she wasn’t CEO anymore, as the primary shareholder, she still had responsibilities to ensure the running of the company. Late as always, she slid into the seat next to Pepper and smiled as Johnson, the chairman of the board begun.

 

“We’re going to skip through the first two items here, as we don’t want to bore Ms Stark, given that she’s finally showed her face,” he chuckled. Tony looked around to see a similar reaction from the group of wealthy men in suits who helped to run her company. It was tiresome.

 

 “Ms Stark, as you well know, we’ve been experiencing a strong decline in our stock for a while. For a while we thought it was due to the increasing severity of your, _exploits_ shall we say. But as that has died down, we begun to wonder if there was another reason,” Tony frowned as Johnson continued.

 

“Stark Industries has always been a family run company, to a greater or lesser extent. Although you no longer hold the office of Chief Executive, you are still our primary developer of technology, as was your father before you.”

 

“What we believe the problem to be, and forgive me Ms Stark, but as you grow older, the likelihood of you reproducing decreases. We need to be realistic.”

 

She turned to Pepper, frowning in disbelief. The room had passed into a painful silence as a few of the stupid misogynist men shuffled uncomfortably in their seats.  “I refuse to accept that this is even remotely related to your inability to run this company **_properly_**. If you let Pepper do what she wanted to do she –“

 

“Ms Stark… Antonia… we have accessed all the options and I’m afraid we have to insist it is. The older members of the board would tell you, we faced the same situation with your father and while this is the last thing we are sure you want, we have come up with what we believe would be a agreeable solution to yourself.” Johnson snivelled.

 

“I can’t believe we are even having this conversation you slime” Tony spat. Pepper bit her nails, struggling to remain professional and loyal simultaneously.

“Look, we all hold valuable investments in this organisation. If you should wish to ignore us, we can ensure that our investment ceases. Find yourself a spouse and an offspring, or we shall find one for you,” another board member interjected.

 

“I highly doubt that to be the case,” Pepper breathed, her voice raised. “You would be mad to drop your involvement in this organisation and you cannot force Tony to do anything,”

 

“We are all committed to our word Ms Potts, I can very well assure you,” another piped up.

 

Tony glared out of the glass windows, looking across the New York skies. It was 2015, and she couldn't believe that they were having this conversation. But worse still, it seemed that the same conversation had been had with her _own father_ some fifty years earlier. No wonder he never liked her.

 

The arguing in the room got louder, with Pepper almost screaming at them, until Tony had enough. Pushing back her chair, Tony stormed out, damned be the consequences. She wouldn't let anyone control what she did, and how she lived her life and she thought her past had shown that.

 

As she pushed the button for the elevator, she begun mentally forming a plan to rid them all of their board seats, one by one. She stood fuming, and briefly considered calling for the suit so she could fly through a window when Pepper caught up.

 

“I’m sorry Tony, I had no idea this was what they were going to do,” she said.

 

“Pepper this is sexist bullshit and they know it,”

 

“I know Tony but I’m worried what they might do,” Pepper soothed, as the doors closed on the elevator.

 

“I’m going to start Jarvis on planning to rid all of them,” Tony grumbled. “They can’t dictate my life,”

 

“I know Tony, I know,”

 

***

 

 The next stage in their plan materialised three weeks later. Asking Tony to meet him, under the pretence of an apology, Tony and Pepper walked in to a meeting with Johnson to see Justin bloody hammer sat at the table next to him.

 

They were willing to give Tony a chance, Johnson reasoned, to find her own partner. But if she hadn’t in sixty days, they would release news of her marriage to Justin Hammer, who had gleefully agreed to the plan after being bought out from jail by Johnson himself.

 

“He tried to fucking kill me!” Tony screamed, when she learned the terms of his release.

 

“Look Antonia, we can be nice about this, or we can not. Find yourself a partner, sort out our stock prices or else your stock will suddenly be dropping in a more rapid fashion than it is now,”

 

“I could ruin every single one of you. Pepper is already working on finding suitable replacements for Peters and Wilkinson,’ Tony snarled.

 

“Let that be the case then Ms Stark, but I believe we could also ruin you. We have enough evidence believe me. Your new cosmic friends wouldn’t be so impressed I’m sure if they discovered your true character,” he laughed.

 

“Do you not think I could do the same? Hell, this is enough to ruin any business relationship you fucking have Johnson,”

 

Johnson laughed, and slid a few magazines across the table to her. On the front of each was a headline claiming she had returned to alcoholism (something remarkably more believable given her recent blowing up of all her suitsand then her rather public break up with Pepper), and that she was becoming increasingly unstable. She realised instantly that this was their work, and knew that it would increase her credibility with anything she said. She was stuck.

 

Tony couldn’t let them ditch their stock, or the company would face bankruptcy in a few days. And she also couldn’t let them claim she was marrying Hammer, or else the damage to her reputation would be unsolvable. She was going to have to agree and it fucking sucked.

 

But sixty days would be okay, right? She could find someone she wanted to spend the rest of her life with by then… she hoped.

 

***

 

 Later that evening, Tony sat on her couch, drowning her sorrows. It was simply unthinkable that they would even think of suggesting to her that she needed to get married as soon as possible and have lots of little Starks.

 

The reason that Tony hadn’t got married by now wasn’t because she didn’t want to. She was all for children, and even more than that, children who she could love, and care for more than her parents ever did her. And as a tabloid-prescribed sex addict, a husband or a wife (because Tony Stark doesn’t confirm to a sexuality bracket, God be damned) would be a great thing to have around. But no one had come along. Well, no one that she liked or trusted enough to walk down the aisle, although there’d been a few who’d come close.

 

Pepper still stung. They’d broken up a few months previously and Tony still wasn’t over it, nor could she decipher why they'd even separated. Pepper had just said it wasn’t working and left, taking her bags that night, without saying a word and Tony looked at her face every day and wanted to cry. There’d been a few guys too, one of whom ended up being a gold-digger and the other’s just turned out to be jerks.

 

The world was full of assholes she reasoned, full of assholes who thought they can hurt her and be sexist and insist she has children. But the fact they had done it to her father was even worse. He had been an awful father and it was clearly because he didn’t want her. The thought made her burst into tears.

 

“Jarvis,” she slurred, an empty bottle later, her cheeks tear-stained and mascara running. “I need help… just don’t send me Natasha, she’s nasty.”

 

“Captain Rogers is currently in the elevator ma’am. I shall reroute him,” Jarvis replied.

 

Steve stepped out moments later, and instantly leaped into action as he saw the state of his friend, and fellow avenger.

 

He grabbed the bottle from her hands, not saying anything and then sat her up straight, her back against the couch. “What if we’d had a call right now Tony?” he sighed, sitting himself down next to her.

 

“I had a board meeting and it sucked,” she slurred, and then slumped onto Steve's big and inviting shoulder. “And my dad and them and I-“

 

Steve interrupted her by pulling her into a strong bear-hug. And then it hit her. Steve. Steve. She could marry Steve. Perfect.

 

***

Tony woke up the following morning, still in her business skirt (which had ridden up her legs in her sleep) and her blouse (which had creased to what may be un-saveable levels), her head thumping louder and harder than her chest. She sat up slowly, undressing herself from the previous day’s clothes and reached for the bottle of drink that she usually left by her bed after a heavy night (because the best way to cure a hangover? Get drunk again) to find it curiously absent.

 

“Guess it’s detox for me today then,” she mumbled to herself, not bothering to grab a shirt to cover up her lace-y red underwear as she got up to grab some juice from her kitchen. No one was likely to see her this far up in the New York skies walking around semi-naked (the perks of a penthouse) and even if they did she was far too hungover to care. Then again, she wasn’t expecting to find Steve sitting on her sofa reading.

 

Her mind drew back to the plan she’d hatched the previous night. Seducing Steve meant she would be with someone she could trust, and someone she liked a lot. Although even Freud would be disturbed on the daddy issues she’d had surrounding Steve as a teenager and that was when he was supposedly dead. Now he was alive… She couldn’t deny he wasn’t a very handsome man.

 

As she shut her door, he looked up and Tony just smirked at him as his cheeks turned pink. “I don’t know why you’re so embarrassed. It’s just like me wearing a bikini”

 

“I’m not embarrassed,” he said, glancing at her briefly before averting his eyes towards the floor.

 

“Kind of seems like you are, cap,” she teased, sitting down on the sofa opposite him.

 

“I can’t deny you’re not a beautiful woman Tony and I fear looking at you might…” he paused, gesturing towards his groin.

 

Tony bit her lip in amusement, because Steve was just perfect and the whole thing was going to be far easier than she thought. Even if Steve hadn’t meant it that way, he’d still called her beautiful. She could work with that.

 

“I guess I owe you dinner then,” she announced, a few moments after returning with a robe on, as he was walking towards the elevator. Steve looked puzzled. “You know, for making sure I was okay,”

 

“Oh. Like a date?” he replied.

 

“No, unless you want it to be. Just, dress up nice. I love a man in a suit. Also” she paused “uniform”

 

“I’ll see you tonight then,” he said as the doors closed.

 

***

 

Tony had asked Jarvis to ensure Steve met her there, and sure enough he was sitting waiting for her in a well-tailored suit, as she sauntered in only a little late (it was Happy’s fault honestly…).

 

“I need to meet your tailor.” She announced, as she sat down in the seat opposite him in the private looking booth Steve had chosen.

 

“Oh it’s erm…” he blushed. “I asked Coulson. You look lovely Tony,”

 

Steve was cute, and friendly but also he wasn’t afraid of her. And he was honest. She could do far worse.

 

Clicking her fingers for the waiter’s attention, she leant forward, in an attempt to show optimum cleavage (far easier now she didn't have a massive circular magnet on her chest). After a few moments a waiter arrived and she ordered a bottle of expensive wine.

 

They spent the rest of the evening laughing and for a brief moment, Tony blessed the actions of the board in forcing her down this avenue. Without that push, she might have never considered doing this, but it was a great idea. Steve was the perfect date for her and they got on swimmingly.

 

They returned to Avengers tower after midnight, and after a brief moment of awkwardness, Steve left the elevator on his own floor, without even a kiss.

 

“I guess that didn’t go as well as I thought,” she grumbled to Jarvis, as she walked through to her bedroom.

 

“There are plenty of other avengers left should you wish to make that your dating pool,” he quipped.

 

Tony laughed. Jarvis was the best.

 

***

 

She didn’t see Steve again until two weeks later when they had to sort out Doctor Doom. She’d spent most of her time in her workshop working on Iron Man, and she was avoiding him massively – but she was slightly disappointed that he hadn’t sought her out.

 

She returned to the tower after battle slightly disheartened. Steve hadn’t said a word to her (other than battle stuff) so after getting out of the suit, Tony dived face first onto her bed, kicking off her shoes as she bounced slightly on impact. She was going to need some sort of plan since the board were riding her like a horse.

 

The thing was, was that Steve was kind of the perfect choice. He didn’t care about her money, he was an Avenger too so he would understand if she needed to fly off and solve something, and he didn’t have a bad bone in his body. She sighed deeply. No one had ever not kissed her after a date, even on the cheek, or even held her hand. Then again, Steve was different. And that was the point.

 

“Ms. Stark, “

 

“Yes Jarvis?” she mumbled into her pillows.

 

“If you’d like to stop acting like a teenager, Captain Rogers is on his way to your floor,”

 

She stood up and straightened herself out, pulling her long dark hair out of the braid she’d hastily put it in when they got the call to assemble. After a few times of leaving her hair down with the suit on, which ended up in her losing painful chunks of hair, she learnt to get it out the way. If Steve was different, then maybe this wasn’t over.

 

By the time she’d walked out of her room and similarly dived on the couch, Steve was coming out of the elevator and striding over to her.

 

He was still in his uniform, his face doused in sweat and his hair ruffled from taking off his helmet. Man was he hot. Tony almost swooned.

 

“The other night.” He started, sitting down at the end of her feet, his back straight.

 

“You know you could just call me right? Rather than coming up here” Tony said casually, rolling over to face him.

 

“Yeah but” he stammered slightly. “Was that a date, or? Because I know you said but I wasn’t sure and…” he paused, slowing down his speech. “I wondered if you maybe wanted to do it again. Tonight?”

 

She grinned. “Give me an hour, and I’ll meet you downstairs,”

 

He looked rather out of sorts as he left her to get ready. A quick shower later, Tony was sifting through her wardrobe, and thinking about the night ahead. This time, she was going to make sure something came of it.

 

Choosing jeans with a pair of heels and a cute black blouse, Tony was ready earlier than anticipated and met Steve downstairs, who was standing in the lobby with a bunch of flowers like she was his prom date. She could have melted.

 

“You look beautiful,” he smiled, handing her the flowers. Although calling them flowers was kind of an insult. It was a large elaborate bouquet, with red and white roses and dyed gold leaves and twigs, showcased in a flamboyant foil wrapping. She inspected them lovingly, switching her clutch bag from her hand to under her arm and then leant up (because her heels were high enough that was almost reach the Super Soldier’s height) and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

 

“No one ever buys me anything, thank you,” she smiled at him, looking straight into his eyes. Taking his hand, they walked to the door, where Happy was patiently holding it open. Continuing his gentlemanly streak, Steve opened the door to her car and took her flowers as she climbed in, taking the middle seat next to her.

 

“So, where to?” Happy asked as he started the engine.

 

“Oh, uhm. Take us to the movie theatre please,” Steve answered, his hand touching Tony’s again.

 

She smiled at him, as he re-counted his post mission meeting with Fury before placing her head on his shoulder and gently whispering, “Please, no work tonight Steve.”

 

He dutifully nodded, but didn’t miss a beat, moving the conversation on to other things – stories about his latest visit to the art gallery and the book he was reading. All Tony really had to talk about was SI and the work she’d been doing in her workshop, occasionally with Bruce, so she was happy that he was willing to take most of the time up. What was brilliant about him was that he was still a normal person without the suit on. He sat and read, and he drew pictures and visited art galleries. It was refreshing.

 

The car pulled up after about a fifteen-minute drive and they walked in together holding hands, Tony leaving her flowers in the car. They sat at the back of the screen, and managed to go the whole night undetected by the public, possibly because people couldn’t believe that they were out together and alone, until they left the theatre to a stream of flashing lights (objective one: get the boards attention).

 

“Thank you Steve, for a lovely evening,” she said, kissing him as they got into the elevator together. She kissed him again as they got off at his floor, with the promise of a glass of wine.

 

Tony woke up the next morning with a pain in her neck, having fallen asleep together on the sofa fully clothed. Trying not to disturb Steve, she got up, finding a piece of paper and pen to leave him a note and went upstairs to shower.

 

***

 

“Hey, have you eaten today?”

 

Tony looked up to see Steve standing at the end of her workbench with a pizza box.

 

“Oh you are the best,” she grinned, running over to wash her grease-covered hands before grabbing a slice and shoving it in her mouth enthusiastically. She’d been working on her car engine, because she’d had this brilliant idea about clean energy and she thought she might be able to upgrade her hot rod with it first, although she’d hit a snag in the road.

 

She motioned for Steve to sit down in her chair and then sat on his lap. He laughed slightly, putting the pizza box down on the bench and kissing her slowly.

 

“So,” he smiled, when they’d done sufficient making out and had finished the pizza. “Want to go out for dinner later?”

 

‘Ms. Stark, I must remind you that you have a Charity Gala in LA to attend to.” JARVIS interrupted before she could reply.

 

She looked up towards the ceiling, as if to thank JARVIS and shrugged. “We could go to that?”

 

“That’s very public Tony, are we ready for-“ she interrupted him with a kiss.

 

“Steve, we’ve been on four dates in the past two weeks and three of them have hit front page. We walked out of the movies to flashing lights”

 

“The others –“

 

“We were playing footsie at that meeting at SHIELD. And also Natasha asked me if we enjoyed our evening so.”

 

“Oh.”

 

It seemed that Steve was a little nervous of a crowd of trust-fund brats like Tony once was. She laughed into his neck and started giving him a hickey. He batted her away.

 

“Okay fine, but can we take a plane? Flying while you hold me as Iron Man doesn’t sound fun for that distance”

 

“Steve. We can do even better than that. We can take _my_ plane”

 

They got ready on the plane, Tony wearing a beautiful floor length gown and Steve a tux (both of which she’d managed to magic out of nowhere, which baffled Steve given that she’d forgotten that she had the event that night) and walked off the plane to find a sports car waiting on the tarmac.

 

“Are you driving that?” he frowned. She laughed and grabbed the keys out of her purse.

 

Steve had a glazed look in his eyes for most of the night as Tony walked around smiling brightly at hundreds of people, talking about their companies and their spouses. Steve didn’t realise she was such a social butterfly, and continued to think so until he noticed the ear piece hidden by wisps of hair realising that JARVIS was probably feeding her information. Her smile only faltered when a smug-looking guy who she addressed as Hammer (with a hell of a lot of spite in her tone) came over to her.

 

“I hate him so much,” she said through gritted teeth as he walked away, grabbing a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. Steve placed his hand on the small of her back and gently pushed her on, whereby she bumped into someone else. He continued dipping in and out of the conversation until someone tapped him on the shoulder and he came face to face with someone holding a voice recorder.

 

“Uhm, hi?” he smiled, taking his hand away from Tony’s back and turning to face them.

 

“Captain Rogers, I just want to ask you a few questions” she said without leaving a gap for him to agree. “When did you start dating Tony Stark? Are you proud to be with someone with such a bad reputation, when you’re America’s golden guy?”

 

At this point, Tony turned around, and frowned. A flash of recognition hit her and she laughed. “Oh jealous are we?” before dropping her tone and whispering into Steve’s ear “Vanity Fair. Fucked her the night before I left for Afghanistan.” He raised his eyebrows at Tony as the girl stammered a little and walked away.

 

Tony turned to face him, for the first time acknowledging his discomfort. “Wanna go home? You can get out of the penguin suit and we can watch dawn from my bed?” Steve shook his head and motioned for her to continue her previous conversation.

 

“You’re still that little sick kid from Brooklyn, aren’t you?” she laughed, tucking herself into his side and grabbing another glass of champagne, this time for the both of them.

 

“Hell yeah. Asking you out was like asking out Regina George.”

 

She narrowed her eyes and pouted jokingly. “I would give you points for the recent cultural reference but ouch. And why have you even seen that?”

 

“It was on late one night when I was working out,” he shrugged, placing his empty glass on the side somewhere.

 

They left a short while after and fucked for the first time in Tony’s Malibu bed. She woke the next morning with Steve’s arms wrapped around her and her legs intertwined with his, happy. 

 

 


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, not sure you got updated last time but I deleted all the chapters to change the story a bit and merged them into one - this is what was originally chapters 3-6ish, with a few edits. Enjoy!

Steve looked into her eyes, but it wasn’t with love as they usually are adorned with. He had a look of hurt and disappointment, and it broke Tony’s heart. 

“Steve, please, I’m sorry,” she pleaded. “I wanted to tell you I just,”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry Tony, but we’re over”

***

It was December and so far Tony and Steve had been dating for six months. All in all, it was going well. Tony had found someone who cared about her, and the board had backed off, with hammer back in jail where he belonged. And best of all, someone who she liked (hell, loved) and he liked her back.

Other than the whole part-time superheroes thing, she loved how they did normal things together, like go to art galleries - not just because they were holding some big charity ball, but because Steve was genuinely interested in what they contained (and Tony was interested in… well Steve) – and go to the movies, where Steve insisted on paying even though she was a billionaire, because he was cute and chivalrous like that.

Their relationship had, of course, changed the team dynamics slightly. Both of them were looking out for each other all the time, and in Tony’s case, often showing off, and if they were ever pairing off, they tended to go together (although after “the incident” where they both nearly didn’t make the field because they’d got distracted when suiting-up, they’d been mostly banned by Fury from doing so).

But it was constantly on Tony’s mind about her original intentions. Since the original meeting, the board called her in again to congratulate her on her relationship but had warned that their original threats still stood if it didn’t work out. And while she was angry, she wouldn’t have dated Steve without them. 

She sighed, looking at Steve who was walking to her left with a warm tight grip on her hand, as they breezed in and out of department stores, looking for the best holiday gifts. 

As a shopping companion, Steve was a pretty good one. His 40’s chivalry meant he would carry most of the bags, although he never asked to save her feeling insulted. He didn’t moan, he didn’t show off if a camera found them (which was a relief after most of her exes) and he was also really good at picking gifts. 

They had a few gifts left now – Tony wanted something extra for Pepper and Steve was still stuck on something to get Sam – when Tony spotted something that caught her eye in the novelty gifts area. Loosening Steve’s grip from her hand, she rushed over. 

On a pillar by the cashiers, was a display of squeezy rubber asses, aimed to be stress relieving toys. It was the perfect fuck you gift for the assholes on her board. She had to get them. 

Unusually, Steve saved the lecture and just rolled his eyes. Tony was slightly disappointed – commanding Steve was kind of her favourite. But she was also relieved – if she’d had to explain her reasoning, their relationship might not have lasted the rest of the trip. She needed to be careful. 

***

Tony planned to spend the week before Christmas in Malibu alone, because she had meetings and Steve hadn’t wanted to disturb her. She’d flown over in her suit, leaving the plane in New York, in case Pepper had wanted to join her later on (depending on how much she fucked up with the clients). It was typical then, that on the Thursday Steve would then be sitting in her office as she went to grab something before her last meeting of the day. Wrapped in a gigantic red bow and with a bag at his feet, he was sat silently waiting for his girlfriend’s appearance. 

She hadn’t noticed him at first as he was sitting in the corner, but as she sat down at her desk something caught the corner of her eye and she almost jumped in surprise. 

“Steve!” she said, excitedly, running over to him.

“I didn’t think you were due back yet,” he frowned, tilting his head to the clock on the wall.

“I’m not,” she replied, disappointedly “I’ve got one more meeting. You can come if you like?” Steve laughed, and pulled her into an embrace as she set him free from the ribbon. After a few blissful moments she pulled away (Steve making a noise of protest) and whispered, “I missed you,”

“I missed you too,” he smiled and pushed a wisp of hair away from her face. The past few nights had been rather dull for him. Even when Tony was busy, he had the pleasant feeling that she was nearby, but without her the tower seemed kind of empty. Sure, it had been nice to spend an evening watching a film with Clint, and he’d even spent a short while in Bruce’s lab (mostly because he missed Tony explaining things to him and he thought Bruce might be a good replacement). They had spoken on the phone briefly, but with the three-hour time difference, he was often tired by the time she returned home from work.

He’d never seen himself falling in love with anyone after Peggy. But it was clear to him now as he stood staring into Tony’s eyes that he was head over heels.

“Come on you’ve got to get to this meeting Tony, Pepper would kill me otherwise,”

“Do you want to go back to my house? I can get Happy to give you a ride?” Steve shook his head and pulled a sketchbook out from his bag. “I’ll see you in an hour then,” she smiled, rushing to grab the file she needed before exiting her office.

She was kind of doomed. 

***

“Pep, I can’t do this,” Tony sighed. For the first time in a long while, Pepper was standing in her workshop in the tower, going over the result of Tony's efforts in Malibu. Steve was currently sparring in the gym with Clint and Natasha, so she was safe from him turning up.

"Tony this is important, we need to go over-"

"No, not that. Steve," she interrupted, slumping into her chair. Pepper frowned and placed her notebook on the workbench. Originally it hadn’t crossed Tony's mind (mostly because she’d been drunk) that if ever Steve found out he might think this was all a game. As she began to care about him more and more, she grew more and more worried. “If he found out about the board... it would ruin everything”

Pepper's hard face melted and she gave Tony a look of sympathy. “Well I suppose, you need to make sure it’s you who tells him.”

"And if it hurts him?"

"A risk you're going to have to take,"

"I'm not sure I want to take that risk. I... I love him Pep."

Pepper sighed. While she wasn't sure she was the right person for Tony to talk about her relationships with, she really did sympathise. She hadn't seen Tony this love-struck since they'd been together, and she was the first to admit that their break-up had been hard on Tony. She touched Tony's shoulder, rubbing it affectionately. "I know. I can tell. Hell the whole world can. But if you want a stress-free relationship, you need to be clear and honest."

Deep-down, Tony knew it, of course she did. But she just couldn't face the idea of Steve taking it the wrong way, and then leaving her. She couldn't face that again, that heartbreak, not after Pepper. He'd be another person she'd have to see on a regular basis, the pain manifesting every time she set her eyes on them. Steve had helped her move on from Pepper, and she could almost look at Pepper now without wanting her back. But if Steve left, it'd all be too much to handle. "I'll tell him," she sniffed slightly, tears forming in her eyes. "I'll have to,"

They finished their conversation and Pepper left. She returned to her work on her armour feeling a little bit worse for wear.

***

Since Steve had taken to impromptu visits to her workshop, it was getting harder to keep any of her planned upgrades secret from him, so she was surprised when she managed to do a whole design on a new shield without him catching her. It wasn’t that his current shield wasn’t good, (hell, if her dad knew one thing he knew weaponry) it was just difficult to carry about. She thought, as she’d upgraded everyone else, her boyfriend deserved at least something. She was just finishing up when the doors to the lift opened and Steve came out of them.

“Tony!” he almost-gasped, as she explained to him what she’d been doing.

“Well, you don’t accept any other kind of gifts so,” He raised his eyebrow at her, almost warningly. “Don’t give me the captain face, that’s not fair,”

“I don’t have a captain face,” he frowned

“You do, erm… kind of a turn on actually,” she grinned devilishly. Steve grabbed her from behind, almost causing her to lose her balance and they fell on the floor in a fit of giggles.

They lay there for a bit, on the concrete floor of Tony’s workshop, before she clambered on top of him, sat below his crotch and began to undo his pants. Steve answered by sitting up and taking off her shirt, before rolling her over, holding himself up above her as she took of her own trackpants. When she was done, she pushed Steve gently and resumed her previous position. He looked confused.

“What, do you feel emasculated, honey?” she said, as she began to pull down his briefs. He rolled his eyes and thrusted his hips up so she could fully take them off. “No, no” she grinned. “My turn”

Grabbing his half-hard cock in her hand, Tony began to stroke it before switching her position to kneel over him so she could take it in her mouth. When her cunt was throbbing, she sat back on his legs, and pulled her own pants off, briefly laying on him to kick them off and positioned herself above him. She was about to rock down when he stopped her.

“Condom?”

“Oh come on Steve, does it really matter if I get pregnant?”

“This is not a conversation we should be having now Tony,”

“Look it’ll be fine, come on. You haven’t got enough stamina to stop having sex now surely,” Steve rolled his eyes and breathed out fine, as Tony began to thrust herself on him. She rested her hands on his chest, massaging it slightly as she moved, Steve thrusting slightly to her rhythm.

“This is… Steve” she moaned as he thrusted particularly hard into her.

He pushed himself upwards, so his back was no longer resting on the cold concrete, and sat up, Tony now thrusting on his lap. He began fiddling with the clasp of her bra, and when they were free, he rubbed his fingers across her left nipple. It hardened in response, and he took the weight of her breast in his hand and rubbing it with his thumb. She moaned and took in a sharp intake of breath.

“Steve, you’re so strong, so hot.. I”

“Mmm. Tony,” he mumbled “I love your boobs. And I love how they feel,”

She ran her fingers through his hair, ruffling it from it’s hard-style. Steve rarely had it free, more often than not it was covered in gel, but she loved it best when it was a mess. He moaned at the touch.

“I’m close, Tony,” he warned her “Y-you sure?”

“Come in me. Come in me Steve,” she commanded and he obliged, his orgasm triggering off her own.

Satisfied, Tony lifted herself off him, lying down next to him while they had a post-coital snuggle on her workshop floor. When she’d regained her breath she joked “Jarvis, add installing a comfy floor to my to-do list, okay?”

“Certainly,” 

***  
“Tony, we need to talk,” Tony looked up from her desk. She’d gone into the office at Pepper’s request to sign some stuff, and ended up staying there to do a bit of work. Steve was standing in front of her, hands behind his back.

“Urm, about what?” she questioned, feeling nervous. She panicking, thinking that Steve found her out. He was at Stark Industries after all. Maybe somebody told him.

“The other day, in your workshop.” He paused, waiting for her to show some recognition. She nodded. “Look, could we go somewhere else, this is just a bit…”

She got up, grabbed her bag and led him to the gardens of the complex. Looking around for anyone, she took a seat on a bench and motioned for Steve to join her. 

“Is this where we’re heading? Marriage and kids?”

She almost breathed a sigh of relief. The condom thing, of course. She bit her lip. This was it. “Yeah, I mean... that’s what” she paused. She couldn’t tell him, not now. If he stormed out, it would make a scene. She decided she’d tell him later. “That’s what I want,” 

Steve nodded, and she could see him holding back a smile. It wasn’t a secret that Steve was a romantic. For a start, he paid for everything no matter how many times she argued. And he held doors open for her (even when she insisted that Jarvis did that anyway) and bought her flowers and… He was exactly the kind of guy she wanted to marry. One who wouldn’t take her for granted. One who would literally die for her. Even without the board on her back, she’d have jumped at the chance.

“Me too,” they gazed at each other for a brief moment before Steve coughed slightly. “Dinner then? Tonight?”

Tony smiled and agreed and Steve left. She’d tell him at dinner… maybe..

***

She didn’t tell him at dinner. They’d gone to a posh restaurant, the kind she was used to going to, and after their earlier conversation she was kind of expecting Steve to propose. He didn’t, but then a few people had recognised them and asked for pictures, and upon realising that it was too public for the conversation they needed to have, she changed her mind.

Then when they returned home, they went to bed, so she didn’t get the chance then either. The next day she was busy, and he was busy and… it never seemed like the right time. Every time she planned to something came up, be it a last minute meeting, or occasionally an Avengers thing that needed sorting. She’d been kind of busy lately.

It didn’t help, that every PA she hired was hopeless (or just not Pepper), so she was disorganised as hell and between the Avengers, and her work with SI, and you know being innovative, she was all over the place. Now wasn’t the time to have a relationship crisis as well.

It’d been a few weeks since they’d had the marriage-and-kids conversation when she decided that she would absolutely tell him that evening, while she was sitting in the communal kitchen of Avengers Tower. When she looked up from her cereal, she saw Natasha walking her way.

“Oh hey, back from your mission?” Tony smiled. She still didn’t really trust her after the whole Natalie Rushman thing, but they’d become friends – not the kind that go shopping together and giggle a lot, but still– and she was glad to see that someone else was around after an empty week at the tower.

Natasha nodded, before raising a curious eyebrow. “You look like something’s bothering you,”

“I’ve got a lot on my mind,” she shrugged, scooping another mouthful into her mouth.

“Anything I can help with?” Natasha enquired, as she stood at the counter pouring herself a glass of juice.

“Actually it’s…” Tony pondered for a moment. If she told Natasha, she’d probably be outraged, and if Steve ever found out that she knew before he did… “I’ve got a lot of work and I’m finding myself swamped… Well I kind of need a new PA. It’s killing me… let me know if you ever fancy coming back”

She winked at Natasha, hoping she’d made a quick recovery. To Natasha’s credit, if she did work it out, she didn’t show it… but then she was queen of the poker face. Natasha laughed, low and warm, and took a seat on the countertop next to Tony.

“Well, I mean SHIELD might have a competent reject I could get them to throw your way?” Tony’s face brightened slightly “But you know, if there’s anything else… you’d probably work better with the weight lifted. Right?”

Damn Natasha. Damn her.

***

Steve was sometimes kind of a tough cookie to work out. Just when Tony thought she knew everything about him, he would always surprise her. Like why he was never around on Wednesdays. It was subtle enough that no one seemed to notice – especially since he would easily drop it for something of some relative importance. But Tony noticed. And it kind of bothered her.

Since they’d been dating, she’d learnt a number of knew things about him. Like how he was mildly ticklish down his sides and how he still couldn’t work the microwave, no matter how hard he tried. But this was one thing she couldn’t work out.

The thing was whatever he did on Wednesdays couldn’t have been that important. She’d played with the idea that knowing him, he probably went to visit the elderly or something, which was possibly too much adorable for her to handle. What he actually did would never have crossed her mind.

Over the following months, she tried to pry into his plans, even asking JARVIS to film him (and the bastard AI refused) but she couldn’t get a handle on it. Then Steve came to see her on a Wednesday morning and asked her on a date for that evening.

At first she wasn’t sure if she was hallucinating, as she’d been concentrating for a long time and she wasn’t really sure when she last ate. After blinking a few times he appeared to still be there, holding a very curious looking bag.

“Where?” she grinned, slightly manically.

“It’s a surprise,” he smiled, placing the bag on a side table. “But there’s a dress code, so I’ve gone ahead and purchased something appropriate, ”

Tony grinned. Since their first proper date when she had admitted she loved being treated, Steve had made an effort to buy her things a little more often but he hadn’t yet expanded into buying her clothes so this was new. When Steve left, she peered into the bag, spotting a pair of sensible looking black shoes and a silky looking green rockabilly dress. The skirt was of a respectable knee-length and flared out, meanwhile the top was a halter-neck that looked stunning.

She couldn’t help but realise it all looked a little… vintage. Smiling, she returned to her work, knowing she had a few hours before she needed to get ready.

Five-thirty came around faster than she’d hoped, but she’d wanted to look special for wherever Steve was showing her. After showering (possibly for the first time in days… it wasn’t something she cared to remember), she put her hair in rollers (grateful that Pepper had left them behind when she’d hastily left) and carefully applied winged eyeliner and red lipstick. She’d seen enough photos of her mother in the forties and fifties to know what sort of thing to go for. Steve was gonna love it.

She was nearly ready when Steve walked into their bedroom and almost gasped. “Too much? I didn’t know if this was what you were going for but I thought…”

He shut her up by pulling her into a kiss. “I love you,” he smiled. She mumbled a reply against his lips, grabbing her purse from her dressing table and standing up. “You’re so beautiful”

When they got downstairs, Tony was confused to find that Happy wasn’t waiting for them. She frowned at him, and he pulled her outside to hail a cab. Confused, she got into the car that pulled up at the kerb and waited for an explanation from Steve, but one never really came. They drove for about 30 minutes, crossing over to Brooklyn, before pulling up outside a small brick building. The perfect gentleman, Steve got out first and helped her out, before paying the driver.

“So… what are we doing here?” she enquired, looking around. It was a clear night, the sky a dark blue and she stood in a virtually empty street with a few houses and what looked like a community center. No one was around, but there were a few lights on and a few cars drove past as Steve had been sorting out the money with the driver. She wasn’t exactly a snob but she couldn’t remember the last time she was in Brooklyn or even the last time she got a cab. The unfamiliarity made her uneasy.

“Erm. I’ve been. Well.” He stumbled with his words. “I’ve been taking ballroom dance lessons.”

She almost laughed, until Steve elaborated to explain that it was his reminder of home, realising that it was his way of truly opening up to her. The guilt overcome her, as they entered the building and walked into a hall where mostly elderly people stood in couples waiting for the class to start. She stood bewildered, as he had done almost a year before when he’d come to a gala with her, as he stood chatting to various people like they were his best friends. It was a whole different side of him she’d never known. And yet it felt like it was all of him.

“I’m so glad to finally meet you,” a voice said. Tony turned around to see an elderly lady of around sixty, smiling up at her. “He’s been talking about you a lot,”  
Steve was unaware, so Tony broke away from him to talk to the lady. Her name was Eileen and she was usually Steve’s dance partner. Apparently he’d been talking about bringing her for months. She smiled.

“And the famous Ms Stark as well! He never said!” Eileen laughed.

“Oh please, call me Tony,”

They chatted for a few minutes longer until their instructor called for everyone’s attention. At this point, Steve was the other side of the room, chatting with a couple who were probably close in age to herself. She walked over slowly to join him.

“Eileen didn’t embarrass me too much, did she?” he whispered.

“No, no,” Tony confirmed, smiling up at him. “She told me everything I needed to hear,”

He frowned but drew his attention back to the guy leading the class, who announced that they were to be starting the American Smooth this week. As someone with some experience of balls and gala’s she wasn’t completely useless, but after a few times of stumbling over Steve’s feet, and after seeing Eileen sitting on her own at the side of the class, she gave up, sitting proudly at the side as he danced.

When the class was over, Steve stuck around for a while, helping a few couples into cabs, while Tony continued to chat to Eileen. She usually shared a cab back with Steve (which he always paid for) but she was insistent that she would go home alone tonight. Tony shook her head. While she’d been waiting, she’d text her driver and he was currently driving towards her by tracking her GPS location. It wasn’t like she didn’t have space in her limo, and she felt like Eileen needed to be treated like a princess. She was clearly someone special to Steve, and it seemed mutual.

They arrived back at the tower close to 11pm, having stopped to grab takeout on the way and having ensured Eileen’s safe route home.

Tony savoured that night, because she feared that when she told him, it was going to be something to remember him by.


End file.
